Canon 5D Mark 3

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III is a 22.3-megapixel full-frame CMOS digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon. It succeeds the EOS 5D Mark II and was announced on 2 March 2012, the 25th anniversary of the announcement of the first camera in the EOS line, the film-based EOS 650. The Mark III went on sale later in March with a retail price of US$3499 in the U.S., £2999 in the UK, and €3569 in the Eurozone.

Changes compared to EOS 5D Mark II

• 22.3 megapixels (5760 × 3840 pixels), compared to 21.1 megapixels (5,616 × 3,744 pixels)
• DIGIC 5+ image processor, compared to DIGIC 4
• 100–25600 ISO (expandable to H1 (51200), H2 (102400)), compared to 100–6400 ISO (expandable to H1 (12800), H2 (25600))
• 61 Point AF + 41 Crosstype AF compared to 9 Point AF + 6 Assist Points. The Mk III's autofocus system is inherited from the recently announced EOS-1D X, and marks the first time since the EOS-3 film SLR that Canon has put its top-of-the-line autofocus system in a non-1-series body.^[3]
• 6 frames per second continuous shooting compared to 3.9 frame/s
• TTL, full aperture, 63 zones compared to TTL, full aperture, 35 zones
• Silent, low vibration TTL shooting modes (single shot or 3 frames/s), compared to live-view-only silent shooting modes.
• 100% viewfinder, compared to 98% coverage
• Larger 3.2-inch (81 mm) LCD with 3:2 aspect ratio, compared to 3.0-inch (76 mm) at 4:3. In turn, this means that the native still images of the Mk III completely fill the screen, while the Mk II's native images are displayed with a black border on the bottom of the LCD. Also, while HD video remains letterboxed on the Mk III LCD, as on the Mk II, the 3:2 ratio allows more of the screen to be used for video display.^[4]
• Headphone out to monitor audio, the previous one having none.
• Dual card slots—one CompactFlash (CF) with full UDMA support, and one SD (including SDHC and SDXC cards, but does not exploit the UHS-I speed class). The Mk II has only one CF slot.

Known defects

On 13 April, 2012, Canon has officially acknowledged the top LCD backlight affecting the meter in certain dark environments. According to Canon's product advisory.

In extremely dark environments, if the LCD panel illuminates, the displayed exposure value may change as a result of the AE sensor’s detection of light from the LCD panel.

Canon suspended shipping new units so as to implement a quick fix on all cameras in retailers' inventory. Any body shipped after the first week of May 2012 likely has the fix already applied. Early shipped bodies will be fixed by Canon for free. The fix reportedly consists of a patch of black tape.